Tanysha Scott, a former DeLaSalle girls’ basketball standout, has led her alma mater back to the Class AAA state girls’ basketball tournament as their head coach.
Scott, an all-metro point guard who starred at the school from 1998-2001, leading to a scholarship at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, coached the Islanders to Section 4AAA victories over Hill Murray (59-42), Mahtomedi (41-39) and St. Anthony (84-51).
It’s DeLaSalle’s first trip to the tournament since completing a three-peat as Class AAA champions in 2013.
After Mary Clare Francois (17 points), Nora Francois (12) and Olivia Travis (10) led the way past Hill Murray in the quarterfinals, DeLasalle, seeded fourth in the section tournament, faced number-one seed Mahtomedi in the semifinals.
That game ended in dramatic fashion after Travis’ put-back at the buzzer lifted them to victory. The junior forward’s heroics put the exclamation on point guard Ayanna Gardner’s game-high 16-point performance.
The junior guard led the way with 23 a few nights later in the championship victory over third-seed St. Anthony, who had previously upset defending section champion and second-seed Como Park. Travis added 12 points and Dacoda Speidel chipped in 10.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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